Vibrant Boarding Community is My Second Family

This is the first part in a series of candid blogs written by our 2014-15 Best School Year Ever winners on the Good, the Bad and the Surprising of their boarding experience at SMUS.

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by Silke Kuhn

251 kids. 21 countries. 1 community.

This is the vibrant community that awaits you as a boarder at SMUS.

The variety of people from a variety of walks of life form this sort of support network for you, as a student, as a boarder, and as a human. It’s a place full of friends: a place of old friends, new ones, life-long friends, running buddies and science lab partners. It’s a place of classmates and roommates, teachers, mentors, leaders, advisors, and a place of support-givers. And this place with these many different people has become like a home away from home, not because of my cozy room or the red brick buildings or the impressive campus, but because of the people – my second family.

Personally, I find it exceptional that so many people can contribute something unique to create this diverse community. Everyone brings an aspect of their ethnicity, their own story to SMUS when they board. The multiculturalism is amazing, and helps you gain an understanding and appreciation of the world’s people.

The situations you encounter while boarding are valuable, because they help push you outside of your comfort zone. Perhaps it nudges you to befriend people you would otherwise ignore. Through moments like these, maybe during out trips, or the Terry Fox Run, or house games, I have met many fascinating people and formed lasting connections.

And I find it good to observe our ever-transforming world, but even better to experience the transformations happening within. And on campus, I’m able to gain a new understanding of our society and form new world views, as well as look inside myself to see my role in the boarding community.

The boarding community will push you. It will stretch you to consider who you want to be. It will teach you about humans, about the world and, most importantly, about yourself. You find refuge in the fact that you know these people are going through the same things you’re going through – just a teenager, blissful, sometimes a little shaky, finding your way through this seemingly endless maze of adolescence. No, you’re not alone. Yes, we’re all just as lost as you are. And yes, we’ll find our way out one day. But that’s not today. And until then we’ll keep on our trek, creating adventures and memories in the maze.

Learn more about our 2015-16 Best School Year Ever video contest, with $70,000 in boarding scholarships up for grabs.